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The West Endowment at a glance

· Private foundation

The West Endowment

Its FY2025 filing reports that it accepted unsolicited grant applications.

$578k
Granted FY2025still arriving
16
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$100k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
05Through PlinthRead
01What it funds
0199% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Health$1.3MEducation$705kHuman Services$457kArts & Culture$278kEnvironment$265kYouth Development$115kHousing & Shelter$55kScience & Tech$50kOther$0
02FY2025 · 16 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

By grant size · FY2025

  • $10k–50k12 grants · $303k
  • $50k–250k4 grants · $275k
$25,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$11M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
CAMP FOR ALL FOUNDATION$100,000
EPISCOPAL HIGH SCHOOL$75,000
HOUSTON'S AMAZING PLACE INC$50,000
COASTAL PRAIRIE CONSERVANCY$50,000
PALACIOS MEDICAL FOUNDATION$45,000
PEARL FINCHER MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS$35,000
BOLIVAR POINT LIGHTHOUSE FDN INC$33,000
HOUSTON AREA PARKINSON SOCIETY$25,000
MAKE-A-WISH FNDOF THE TX GULF COAST & LA$25,000
HOPE AND HEALING CENTER & INSTITUTE$25,000
RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES HOUSTON$25,000
HOUSTON CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL$25,000
THE NATURE DISCOVERY CENTER INC$25,000
GRACEWOOD INC$15,000
REMIND$15,000
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY20–25, $301k) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 10%. 95% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 10%MARC LUSTGARTEN PANCREATIC CANCER FDN: $15k → 6%HEART OF TEXAS FOUNDATION INC: $35k → 15%GUIDE DOGS OF TEXAS INC: $15k → 16%HEART OF TEXAS FOUNDATION INC: $15k → 15%HOUSTON'S AMAZING PLACE INC: $50k → 16%HOUSTON'S AMAZING PLACE INC: $25k → 16%HOUSTON'S AMAZING PLACE INC: $20k → 16%COVENANT HOUSE TEXAS: $75k → 16%VOLUNTEER INTERFAITH CAREGIVERS-SOUTHWEST: $6k → 16%HOMEMADE HOPE FOR HOMELESS CHILDREN: $25k → 16%MAKING IT BETTER: $20k → 16%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

44%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.5M · 20 repeat orgs$1.9M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +17% since the first grant, against 0% for those funded once.

20 repeat relationships: 7 still active in FY2025, 13 since wound down; 9 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

20
46

Total granted

$1.5M
$1.6M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+17%
0%

Still filing today

80%
74%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 33% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $388k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’20’21’22’23’24’25
HealthHuman ServicesEnvironmentEducationArts & CultureHousing & ShelterOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • TM
    THE METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION
    3× · 2020–2024 · $295k · revenue +129%
  • TF
    TIRR Foundation
    2× · 2020–2022 · $150k · revenue +212%
  • CP
    Coastal Prairie Conservancy
    3× · 2020–2025 · $125k · revenue +283%

Funded once

  • AO
    ANNUNCIATION ORTHODOX SCHOOL
    one grant, 2024 · $100k
  • TS
    TRINITY SCHOOL OF MIDLAND TEXAS
    one grant, 2024 · $90k · revenue -8%
  • The Brookwood Community Inc
    one grant, 2024 · $85k · revenue -3%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Trees for Houston

Plant, protect and promote trees all over the greater Houston area.

—
2
Houston Botanic Garden

To enrich life through discovery, education, and the conservation of plants and the natural environment.

Environment
3
Houston Museum of Natural Science

The mission of the Houston Museum of Natural Science shall be to preserve and advance the general knowledge of natural science; to enhance in individuals the knowledge of and delight in natural science and related subjects; and to maintain…

Arts & Culture
4
Harris County Medical Society

Our mission is to be the leading advocate for our member physicians, their patients and our community, in promoting the highest standards of ethical medical practice, access to quality medical care, medical education, research, and…

—
5
Breakthrough Houston

The mission of Breakthrough Houston (BTH) is to work with highly motivated students to achieve post-secondary success and empower aspiring leaders to become the next generation of educational advocates.

Education
6
Rebuilding Together Houston

Rebuilding Together Houston is the only organization in Houston and Harris County providing free home repairs to hundreds of families each year. We employ licensed contractors to restore homes to safe, livable conditions, extending each…

Housing & Shelter
7
Glasstire

Glasstire is a website about visual art in Texas. Our mission is to expand the conversation about visual art in Texas.

Arts & Culture
8
The Women's Resource of Greater Houston

See Schedule OThe Women's Resource of Greater Houston helps women and girls make choices toward becoming independent, productive, and financially stable. We fulfill our mission by recruiting volunteer instructors to deliver our programs in…

Philanthropy
9
The Heritage Society

The Heritage Society (THS) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1954 whose mission is to tell the stories of the diverse history of Houston and Texas through collections, exhibits, the arts, educational programs, film, video, and other…

—
10
Houston Independent School District Foundation

The HISD Foundation is dedicated to mobilizing the local community to support innovative priorities in HISD to improve outcomes for all students in the district. Our mission is to fund projects and programs of merit that fall outside of…

—
11
John P McGovern Museum of Health & Medical Science

The Health Museum is an innovative science center that provides an interactive and entertaining experience for all ages, promotes understanding and appreciation of the human body, mind, and spirit, and inspires a lifelong commitment to…

Arts & Culture
12
Presbyterian School

Family, School, and Church united in the education and support of each child - this is the founding premise upon which Presbyterian School nurtures and challenges its students. The school provides an educational program of the highest…

Education
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Methodist Hospital Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Marc Lustgarten Pancreatic Cancer Foundation. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

56 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 56 of the 75 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
10
Early backer (in before they grew)
55/56
Grantees still filing
31/56
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOCIETY INC: $130,000 · OtherLEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOCIETY INCANNUNCIATION ORTHODOX SCHOOL: $100,000 · OtherANNUNCIATION ORTHODOX SCHOOLHouston Hospice: $85,000 · OtherHouston HospiceEPISCOPAL HIGH SCHOOL: $75,000 · OtherEPISCOPAL HIGH SCHOOLINSTITUTE FOR REHABILITATION & RSCH FND (TIRR): $75,000 · OtherINSTITUTE FOR REHABILITATION & RSCH FND (TI…BROOKWOOD COMMUNITY (FKA BRIARWOOD-BRKWD): $60,000 · OtherTRINITY UNIVERSITY: $50,000 · OtherMAKE-A-WISH FNDOF THE TX GULF COAST & LA: $50,000 · OtherAMERICAN RED CROSS: $45,000 · OtherMUSEUM OF HEALTH & MEDICAL SCIENCE: $45,000 · OtherPALACIOS MEDICAL FOUNDATION: $45,000 · OtherMANNED SPACE FLIGHT EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 · Other+23 more: $520,000 · Other+23 moreTHE METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $295,000 · HealthTHE METHODIST HOSPITA…TIRR Foundation: $150,000 · HealthTIRR FoundationEPILEPSY FOUNDATION OF TEXAS: $50,000 · HealthEPILEPSY FOUNDATION O…RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES GREATER HOUSTON INC: $46,000 · HealthRONALD MCDONALD HOUSE…CHRISTUS Foundation for HealthCare: $40,000 · HealthCHRISTUS Foundation f…OUTREACH CENTER OF WEST HOUSTON INC: $35,000 · HealthHarris County Hospital District Foundation: $25,000 · Health+2 more: $18,000 · HealthTRINITY SCHOOL OF MIDLAND TEXAS: $90,000 · EducationTRINITY SCHO…The Brookwood Community Inc: $85,000 · EducationThe Brookwoo…Joy Development School: $75,000 · EducationJoy Developm…Trinity University: $75,000 · EducationTrinity Univ…COMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS OF HOUSTON INC: $30,000 · EducationCOMMUNITIES …ARCHWAY ACADEMY: $25,000 · EducationARCHWAY ACAD…+1 more: $10,000 · EducationCoastal Prairie Conservancy: $125,000 · EnvironmentCoastal Prai…THE WILL ERWIN HEADACHE RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $60,000 · EnvironmentTHE WILL ERW…PARKS AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION OF TEXAS: $55,000 · EnvironmentPARKS AND WI…Memorial Park Conservancy Inc: $50,000 · EnvironmentMemorial Par…Nature Discovery Center: $35,000 · EnvironmentNature Disco…The Matagorda Bay Foundation: $30,000 · EnvironmentThe Matagord…TEXAS RICE INDUSTRY COALITION FOR T ENVIRONMENT: $20,000 · EnvironmentHouston's Amazing Place Inc: $95,000 · Human ServicesHouston's A…COVENANT HOUSE TEXAS: $75,000 · Human ServicesCOVENANT HO…Houston Area Women's Center: $50,000 · Human ServicesHouston Are…HEART OF TEXAS FOUNDATION COLLEGE OF MINISTRY: $50,000 · Human ServicesHEART OF TE…Homemade Hope for Homeless Children: $25,000 · Human ServicesHomemade Ho…Making It Better dba Literacy Now: $20,000 · Human ServicesMaking It B…Guide Dogs of Texas Inc: $15,000 · Human ServicesMARC LUSTGARTEN PANCREATIC CANCER FOUNDATION: $15,000 · Human Services+1 more: $5,600 · Human ServicesLone Star Flight Museum: $100,000 · Arts & CultureBATTLESHIP TEXAS FOUNDATION: $50,000 · Arts & CultureBolivar Point Lighthouse Foundation Inc: $33,000 · Arts & CultureCypress Creek Fine Art Association: $25,000 · Arts & CultureGLENWOOD CEMETERY HISTORIC PRESERVATION FOUNDATION: $25,000 · Arts & CultureDa Camera Society of Texas: $10,000 · Arts & CultureCamp For All Foundation: $100,000 · Youth DevelopmentP4L dba Lemonade Day: $15,000 · Youth Development
Other$1,330,000Health$659,000Education$390,000Environment$375,000Human Services$350,600Arts & Culture$243,000Youth Development$115,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetTHE METHODIST HOSPITAL FOUNDATION: $295,000 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetTIRR Foundation: $150,000 over 2y, 7.8% of budgetCoastal Prairie Conservancy: $125,000 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetCamp For All Foundation: $100,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetLone Star Flight Museum: $100,000 over 2y, 1.3% of budgetHouston's Amazing Place Inc: $95,000 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetTRINITY SCHOOL OF MIDLAND TEXAS: $90,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetThe Brookwood Community Inc: $85,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetHouston Hospice: $85,000 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetJoy Development School: $75,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetCOVENANT HOUSE TEXAS: $75,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetTrinity University: $75,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE WILL ERWIN HEADACHE RESEARCH FOUNDATION: $60,000 over 2y, 7.1% of budgetPARKS AND WILDLIFE FOUNDATION OF TEXAS: $55,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetHouston Area Women's Center: $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetEPILEPSY FOUNDATION OF TEXAS: $50,000 over 3y, 0.9% of budgetMANNED SPACE FLIGHT EDUCATION FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetMemorial Park Conservancy Inc: $50,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetBATTLESHIP TEXAS FOUNDATION: $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetHEART OF TEXAS FOUNDATION COLLEGE OF MINISTRY: $50,000 over 2y, 4.0% of budgetRONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES GREATER HOUSTON INC: $46,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetREMIND: $44,000 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetCHRISTUS Foundation for HealthCare: $40,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetCHINQUAPIN PREPARATORY SCHOOL: $35,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetNature Discovery Center: $35,000 over 2y, 2.6% of budgetOUTREACH CENTER OF WEST HOUSTON INC: $35,000 over 1y, 6.2% of budgetBolivar Point Lighthouse Foundation Inc: $33,000 over 1y, 17% of budgetGRACEWOOD INC: $30,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetNew Hope Housing Inc: $30,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetThe Matagorda Bay Foundation: $30,000 over 1y, 2.3% of budgetCOMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS OF HOUSTON INC: $30,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetHope and Healing Center & Institute: $25,000 over 1y, 0.8% of budgetSTAR OF HOPE MISSION: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHarris County Hospital District Foundation: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHomemade Hope for Homeless Children: $25,000 over 1y, 7.2% of budgetARCHWAY ACADEMY: $25,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetCypress Creek Fine Art Association: $25,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetGLENWOOD CEMETERY HISTORIC PRESERVATION FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 1.9% of budgetBellville Medical Center: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetHOUSTON EYE ASSOCIATES FOUNDATION: $25,000 over 1y, 8.7% of budgetTEXAS RICE INDUSTRY COALITION FOR T ENVIRONMENT: $20,000 over 1y, 5.4% of budgetMaking It Better dba Literacy Now: $20,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetCYPRESS WOODLANDS JUNIOR FORUM: $20,000 over 1y, 7.8% of budgetCASA DE ESPERANZA DE LOS NINOS INC: $20,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetP4L dba Lemonade Day: $15,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetGuide Dogs of Texas Inc: $15,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetMARC LUSTGARTEN PANCREATIC CANCER FOUNDATION: $15,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetCHERISH OUR CHILDREN INC: $10,000 over 1y, 2.2% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Albert & Ethel Herzst…Greater Houston Commu…Shell USA Company Fou…The Brown Foundation …Vivian L Smith Founda…Strake FoundationHarry S & Isabel C Ca…MD Anderson FoundationThe Elkins FoundationSterling-Turner Found…John P McGovern Found…The Junior League of …
Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable FoundationTX60× affinity27 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation · Greater Houston Community Foundation · Shell USA Company Foundation · The Brown Foundation Inc · Vivian L Smith Foundation · Strake Foundation · Harry S & Isabel C Cameron Foundation Sentinel Trust Company · MD Anderson Foundation · The Elkins Foundation · Sterling-Turner Foundation · John P McGovern Foundation · The Junior League of Houston Inc

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization The West Endowment funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from The West Endowment. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%1%5%11%20%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    12report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.
    05Through Plinth

    Warm introductions · Powered by PlinthPlus

    How do I get to The West Endowment?

    Find your warmest path to The West Endowment through trustees and officers whose names appear on both boards. Search for your organization and Plinth traces the shortest route it can evidence.

    Each link is a name appearing on two organizations’ public IRS 990 filings, matched on that name and, where the filings support it, on location. A same-state match has geographic support, which is a second matching feature rather than confirmation that the two are one person; a cross-state one is the likeliest to be two people who share a name. Every hop shows its tier, low-confidence and distant paths are held back rather than guessed, and it is worth confirming the person before you use the introduction.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 75 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990-PF e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on West Endowment’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home